1. Field of the Invention
The method and apparatus of the present invention relate to electronic skill-based competitions using electronic networks.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There are dozens of skill-based competitions in use today. Most of these competitions can be placed in one of two categories. The first category includes the many board games, card games and other games of skill that millions of people play everyday in one-on-one and small group competitions. The second category provides entertainment to large audiences who passively watch a small randomly selected group compete in a game broadcast on television.
Competitors in the first group of games usually do not have the opportunity for large financial rewards or recognition for success beyond the small group of individuals they are competing against.
Almost all of the skill-based competitions that reward winners fall into the second category and are available to only a small percentage of the population at large. Game shows such as The Jeopardy! game show have only a handful of contestants per night. However, these types of game shows receive hundreds of thousands of inquiries from potential contestants per week. Because of the limit on the number of contestants, potential contestants must go through an onerous and very time-costly process to have a chance to be randomly selected to compete in one of the skill-based competitions.
Most skill-based competitions with rewards are broadcast on television for the public to enjoy. The entertainment provided by these games is primarily that viewers can live vicariously through the wins and losses of the few select players. Passive viewers often attempt to increase the entertaining benefit by mentally simulating competition against the real competitors. Most viewers will almost never have an opportunity to compete in the skill-based games, primarily because of the time and effort required to simply have a chance at being selected. Almost no skill-based competition of significant size allows viewers at home to compete for substantial prizes, etc. Likewise, none of the games people play at home provide similar financial rewards and recognition.
As an example of the limitations on the ability of a person to participate in a television game show, the following paragraphs use the Jeopardy! game show to describe the process of becoming a contestant on a major skill-based competition which rewards winners. It illustrates the time-consumption and demands on potential contestants and on the randomness of selecting contestants.
With regard to The Jeopardy! game show, to obtain a chance to compete for a reward, an individual must attempt to schedule an appointment and then travel to Culver City, Calif. to enter the formal process. The potential contestant must then take a written test while in Culver City. The tests are advertised as being extremely difficult and thus The Jeopardy! game show encourages individuals not to come to California for the sole purpose of trying out for the show. Additionally, tests are not conducted over the phone or over the Internet. The two basic steps to qualify as a contestant on The Jeopardy! game show are 1) taking a 50 question test, and for those that pass the test, 2) playing of a mock game. The test is videotaped by the show host and covers a wide range of categories.
Potential contestants are asked to dress as they would to appear on the show. If an individual passes the test and plays well in the mock game, he or she is put in an “active file” for the current tape year. Being put in the active pool does not guarantee that an individual will be invited to appear on the show. Contestants are then selected from the active pool to appear on the show. The specific selection process used to determine who moves from the active pool to true contestant is not made public.
While all skill-based competitions with rewards do not follow the same rules, almost all are similar in that (1) they require an extremely onerous and time-consuming process to reach the contestant level, (2) they include a large element of chance and/or subjectivity in the selection of contestants and (3) they limit the number of participants to a very small fraction of the total applicants. The time onerous nature and time-consumption is hugely inefficient since it prohibits a large portion of the population from actually participating in the contests. Further, the random nature of the selection discourages many potential contestants from attempting to become a participant. The two inefficiencies combined relegate the average person to participating vicariously by watching taped versions of games played days in advance.
In addition to traditional game shows, multi-player video-based games exist. Multi-player video-based games such as UltimaOnline (.UltimalOnline.com) allow multiple people to engage in an electronic game at one time. This provides additional value to consumers who would like to participate in a game with multiple people. Additionally, becoming a participant in the game takes little time since it can be accessed from a connection to the Internet. However, participants must pay to play the game. Further, these games do not satisfy the general requirements of competitive skill-based games such as game shows which have (1) a winner and (2) a defined start and end time. These games are ongoing interactions that allow participants to take turns in order to simulate interactions though they are not actually playing simultaneously.
A number of games have arisen on the Internet that simulate game shows broadcast over television. For instance, Sony has a number of games that can be played over the Internet which simulate traditional game shows. Jeopardy! Online or Trivial Pursuit Online (.station.sony.com) are Internet games that allow multiple players to come together to simulate the traditional versions of these games. This allows individuals who would like to feel the competitive nature of these games to enjoy them online. However, four key elements are missing from the value proposition: (1) the games simply pool a limited number of individuals into a simulated game as the players arrive at the site and (thus, one cannot really compete against the larger public), (2) the games are simulations, not a live event, (3) do not award the significant prizes available offline in a truly competitive game, (4) do not have an appropriate selection mechanism that allows the determination of a single winner from a large pool of contestants in “head-to-head” competition.
Other games exist which allow large numbers of individuals to compete for cash rewards, but they are mostly classified as gambling and thus are illegal in most states and require contestants to pay a fee to play the contest. None of the current skill-based games listed above have the synchronous, real-time nature and enable a scale of millions to play in a finite period of time.